I had a life once...& have evidence to prove it...

Spent half the morning up in the loft. The stables are closed this weekend as one of the family who owns it is getting married, so for once Miss Sensible's actually at home. For some unknown reason, the sprog who normally can think of nothing outside the equine world suddenly decided it was desperately necessary to rummage through my old frocks to see if there was anything suitable for her to wear for her end of school prom next year. Advance planning or what?? or perhaps the chance to put aside homework for a few hours ;o) Anyway we ventured up into deepest recesses of the roof void and located the carefully stored items, then began rooting out all kinds of beautiful things, little black dresses, sequined cocktail affairs, formal gowns...talk about nostalgia...got stuff up there I'd completely forgotten about, and all manner of long lost memories of events & people bubbled to the surface. Ended up being a bit of a trip through Mum's past...no luck in terms of finding anything suitable but a lovely way of spending a few hours & we both highly enjoyed it.

Clone required

Been one helluva week work-wise. The boss is signed off sick so myself and a colleague are sharing her workload which necessitated me being in London for four days...two of them I commuted the usual 3.5 hours journey each way, but I couldn't face that for the rest of the week so felt a stop-over was required. Ha! London Fashion week put pay to that. A reasonably priced hotel couldn't be found for love nor money. Fortunately a workmate came to the rescue and offered me board & lodgings, and very nice it was too but it has to be said I am going to spend this weekend doing the minimum possible!

Not that easily shocked but...

Interviewing for a reasonably senior post in one of the hostile environments. Generally I find the experience pretty interesting listening to the candidates talk about their experience etc. but the last session of the afternoon floored me completely. The guy had plenty of relevant skills and had worked in the country so, so far, so good, as we got to the end of the interview and I explained the next stages of the recruitment process and the vetting involved he said,

"I need to declare to you that I've got a criminal record"

...ok...

Some offences are time limited so I asked if it was something which was likely to be 'spent' at some point...staring me right in the eye he responded..."it was downloading offensive images."

....NO idea how I managed not to react and professionally draw things to a close but apparently the Director who was with me was impressed with my composure... Hmm... only hope I don't ever have to deal with that scenario again...

Sunday roast

is back on the menu due to the onset of autumn & the need for comfort food. On canvassing opinions from my colleagues they all see this as a positive move, however the sproglets see it as the basis of complaint as:

1. that they have to eat more vegetables than is considered reasonable (which brought to mind a comment made by the Middle Eastern Correspondent to my mother many moons ago as he lifted the lid on a pan of Broccoli, "I don't 'do' green things")
2. there is a predictability about the next days dinner...

Roast chicken is followed by a Chicken Curry (Thai or Indian...tonight being the latter); roast lamb is transformed into Scouse (*what else!); roast pork coverts to Sweet & Sour; whilst roast beef may materialise as either Strew & Dumplings or Goulash.

I had thought that this was a reasonable arrangement and certainly economical & nutritious, but it seems perhaps I should invest in some Turkey Twizzlers so they know which side their bread's buttered on....pardon the pun ;o)

Random act

on the way back from the stables struck gold. For some time I've been looking for a mirror to grace the hallway. It needed to be something which was in keeping with the house but not too run of the mill. I'd done the usual trawl round the shops, searched the internet but not really seen what I liked other than at a completely exorbitant price...(can't help having good taste....I may have been born free, but now I'm expensive ;o)

So pottering along I suddenly got the urge to visit one of my favourite curio shops. Under normal circumstances it's nearly impossible to park round there, but to my surprise there was an empty space... Seemed too good an opportunity to pass by.....I could hardly believe that as I walked into the store immediately in front of me was exactly what I'd been looking for, & at a ridiculously reasonably price. SOLD!!! and swiftly transported to it's new home. Fate! Must be...

Budgetary cuts

An email informing us we need to question & justify expenditure was circulated today, shortly followed by one from my boss informing me I need to be more frugal with my trips to London! I am not quite sure how she's expecting me to manage my team on a long distance basis, perhaps pedal down & stay overnight in a bus shelter at Victoria.... Hmm :o/ Anyone would think I enjoy the ridiculously early starts and time away from the sproglets.

A most remiss mother

I failed to spot that Minor Mayhem had loving prepared last night's dinner wearing his school uniform sans apron. This fact was only spotted when doing the school run this morning I checked my rear view mirror to see him scampering happily over to school with large white smudges across his previously pristine navy jumper.....Oops!

On the more positive side, he'd made sooo much batter mix I was forced to make pancakes tonight, sproglets had theirs with chocolate/hazelnut spread, whilst I opted for the more traditional lemon & sugar... Yum :o) Having provided ample sustenance my conscience re. the mucky jumper is now suitably salved.